Your next smartphone could respond to your voice, even when it's asleep

ASSOCIATED PRESS (AP) -- Imagine waking up in the morning, stretching and asking your sleeping smartphone, "Ahoy, Google, what's the weather like?" to get the local forecast.

A new feature unveiled this week by mobile chip maker Qualcomm could soon make this a reality.

Called Snapdragon Voice Activation, it will wake up gadgets that include the company's Snapdragon 800 processors — intended for things like high-end smartphones, tablets and smart TVs — from standby or airplane mode once you've uttered a special voice command that phone-makers like HTC and Samsung can determine.